Other states raising the law are Arkansas, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington, according a tally by the American Lung Association. Also hundreds of cities and counties have raised the minimum age.

And last month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell formally introduced legislation to raise the age nationwide.

"Delaying the age when young people first begin to use tobacco -- the leading cause of preventable death -- will reduce the risk they will develop a deadly addiction," Shelby Massey, the Texas Government Relations director for the American Heart Association, told KXAN-TV.

In Texas, 7.4 percent of high school students smoke and more than 10 percent use e-cigarettes, according to the Texas21 Coalition, who says 498,000 Texas kids alive now will ultimately die prematurely from smoking.

Nationally, 27.1 percent of high school students and 7.2 percent middle school students used a tobacco product in 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a report released in February.